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Success! March 10, 2009

So, here’s my feeling about cleaning bedrooms: I like to just let the kids keep their rooms however they want, until it gets smelly or we are worried about spraining an ankle walking through there. At that point, it must be completely cleaned up. This week was clean up week, and the feeling of dread was palpable. I decided to offer an incentivizing bribe, in the form of ice cream, to the first one to have their room clean. I don’t offer bribes very often, so it was a pretty good motivator.

Brooklyn is the worst at cleaning her room. She generally spends 3 or 4 hours crying and complaining before she picks up a singe thing. She also has a tendency to just shove stuff behind the bed or hide it under the covers. We have found such things as a raw potato wrapped in toilet paper under her bed, and a mostly eaten box of apple jacks behind her foot locker. You really have to check good in there. So, imagine my surprise when she won the contest!

Success!

I’ve honestly never seen this child work so quickly and so well. She was thrilled when she won, and I bought her a carton of mint chocolate chip. I was thrilled, too, and I thought the ice cream was totally worth it!! If only I could get her to clean her room without the promise of ice cream….

Robb and I were married in December 1995. Three kids and 19 years later... we have a home in the suburbs, and we love being near our family on both sides. Keep up with our successes and failures, our struggles and triumphs, and the joy of raising our children on this little blog.